There is tired. And then there is the kind of tired where basic tasks require strategic planning and emotional resilience. I haven't slept in days. The brain feels fuzzy and making a meal feels wildly ambitious. Today's menu? Healthy-ish survival mode. Between emails and toddler entertainment, two lizards named Larry and Leanna became unexpected childcare heroes. Then she fell on the stairs, and guilt arrived. For exhausted parents tonight: You're not failing. You're just car

Last night, somewhere between a delayed red-eye and my toddler throwing herself onto a hotel lobby floor, I wondered if there's a return policy on adulthood. After zero sleep, 47 bags, a "large trunk" Uber that was actually a toy car, and surviving on emotional support cookies, I learned something: exhaustion isn't failure. It's evidence you've been carrying a lot. If all you did today was survive and keep going? That counts.